Captured [The Captive #1] - Erica Stevens - 2*

Captured [The Captive #1]
Erica Stevens

**

No Spoilers

Blood Slave.

Captured, taken from her beloved family and woods, Aria’s biggest fear is not the imminent death facing her, but that she will be chosen as a blood slave for a member of the ruling vampire race. No matter what becomes of her though, Aria knows that she must keep her identity hidden from the monsters imprisoning her. She has already been branded a member of the rebellion, but the vampires do not know the true depth of her involvement with it, and they must never know.

Though hoping for death, Aria’s world is turned upside down when a vampire named Braith steps forward to claim her. He delays her execution, but Aria knows it’s only a matter of time before he drains her, and destroys her. Especially once she learns his true identity as a prince within the royal family; the same royal family that started the war that ultimately brought down humankind, reducing them to nothing more than servants and slaves.

Aria is determined to hate the prince, determined not to give into him in anyway, but his strange kindness, and surprising gentleness astonish her. Torn between her loyalties to the rebellion, and her growing love for her greatest enemy, Aria struggles to decide between everything she has ever known, and a love she never dreamed of finding.

I got this for Free on Amazon, the link is Here, if you would like to download it. I wanted something to read on the go, on my iPhone, and I was feeling up for a little bit of vampire love, so I thought, well this looks intriguing. Yes, it looked intriguing, but sadly in my opinion wasn't as interesting as I would have liked.

Aria and Braith are very much 'forbidden' in their love. Of course, as it always is, a vampire prince should never, ever love a human, especially one from the opposition. Cue, the first big cliche. I am one to read cliche ridden books and love them, but i'm afraid this one did not cut it for me. At times I felt like it dragged on, remarkably so. Some of the characters I felt were just a tad bit of filler, which could have just been scrapped. I see that this is the first part of a series, so I may eat my words and those characters will have prominent places, but I did think they could have had a bit more of a role rather than being just an 'extra'.

I did like Braith, I thought he had a lot of issues, regarding his brothers, his family. I liked his pain, I liked seeing him conflict with himself over his budding feelings for Aria. I did want to see them get together in the end, but sadly I grew to dislike Aria, very, very much.

It isn't overly long and the book does flick through quick enough, but I was finding myself skimming parts as they were just 'filler' and a bit of backstory that went on a bit too long.

I enjoyed the dystopian backdrop. A world where vampires have taken over, the opposition are growing, and the never-ending list of cliches that go with that. but again, I am not a cliche hater. I love a good cliche, if it is done right. I am glad this was free, and by the looks of it, it's sequel Renegade is also free, so if you would like to see where Aria and Braith's story continues, then be my guest and click the link, Here.